Psychiatrist says reality was lost on Muhammad

LITTLE ROCK -- The star defense witness in the capital murder trial of Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad said Friday that the defendant believes he is persecuted because he's Muslim and that his actions are more important than they really are -- all because he suffers from a delusional disorder.

"Saying you're an operative of a major terrorist organization is grandiose," said Dr. Shawn Agharkar, a psychiatrist who examined Muhammad three times in as many months this year. He added that nothing in the record indicates Muhammad is a member of such an organization.

"I do believe he knew right from wrong legally," Agharkar said. "But morally he felt it was righteous."

Muhammad, a native Memphian who is accused of killing Pvt. William A. Long and injuring Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula in a June 2009 attack at a military recruiting center in Little Rock, refused a fourth visit by the doctor.

He has repeatedly said he is not insane and that the shooting was an act of jihad in retaliation for what he perceived as the mistreatment of Muslims. In letters to The Commercial Appeal in 2010, he claimed affiliation with al-Qaida.

He is charged with capital murder, attempted capital murder and numerous counts of unlawful discharge of a firearm from a vehicle.

Muhammad's attorneys argue he is not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. The state is seeking the death penalty.

Muhammad believes there is a conspiracy, Agharkar said, and assigns meaning to seemingly mundane things such as whether his spoon is in the right place on his food tray in jail or whether he is handcuffed with his hands in front of him or behind his back.

"He clearly has a different version of reality than the rest of us," Agharkar said.

The prosecution hammered the expert about how much he was being paid by the defense, suggesting he was a hired gun. Agharkar charges $350 per hour, he said. It's the same rate he charges patients in his office. He said he has billed 100 to 125 hours in the case -- roughly $40,000 so far.

"I'm paid for my time, not my testimony," he said.

Agharkar's testimony abruptly ended when deputy prosecutor John Johnson asked whether he was the first psychiatrist the defense requested to evaluate Muhammad.

The defense objected. The attorneys had a bench conference. Pulaski County Circuit Judge Herb Wright took a short recess and then called both sides into chambers.

When Wright reconvened a short time later, he sent the jury home without any explanation. He simply said the proceedings would resume Monday morning.

In earlier testimony, Monica Holley, Muhammad's older sister, broke down on the witness stand. She talked about how their father taught them both the importance of a strong work ethic, saving money and the value of family.

Holley called her brother "Carlos" on the stand, the name he was given at birth. After he converted to Islam in college he legally changed it.

Holley said Muhammad always wanted to take over the family's tour business in Memphis, and that's why he studied business administration in college. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, she said, when he converted to Islam. But he was distant and different when he came back to America after living in Yemen.